House committee endorses bill introduced by Braley to open all supercommittee meetings to the public

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) applauded the advancement of a bipartisan measure that would require all proceedings of the US Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction be made open to the public. The bill, which Braley introduced, advanced as the deficit supercommittee has come under increasing fire in recent days for conducting its business behind closed doors.

“Congress only works if its members are accountable to taxpayers,” Braley said. “The deficit supercommittee has power to dramatically alter Medicare, Social Security, and other federal programs. Yet they’ve been conducting their discussions in secret, out of the view of even other members of Congress.

“Whole armies of corporate lobbyists have been deployed to Washington to influence the supercommittee’s decisions. With as much power as they have, it’s critical that the supercommittee’s deliberations occur in broad daylight – not in some smoky Capitol backroom out of the public’s watchful eye.”

Braley’s bill, the “Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2011” (HR 3124), was endorsed in a bipartisan vote by the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform late last night.